Today, Dr. Andrew Weaver, MLA (Oak Bay-Gordon Head) and Deputy Leader of the Green Party of British Columbia and Elizabeth May, MP (Saanich-Gulf Islands) and leader of the Green Party of Canada held a joint press conference to review the federal and provincial issues at play in relation to new information received by the party.

“Documents obtained from Environment Canada and the Department of Fisheries and Oceans reveal that at a time when core science is being cut across the Government of Canada, tax dollars are being spent to do Enbridge’s homework for them,” said Andrew Weaver.

The Federal Government is moving forward over the next two years with a $100 million plus, ‘Complementary Measures Project’ (now called ‘World Class’) to research and model the complex waterways in the Kitimat and Hecate Straights region. In essence this is a federal government subsidy to the Northern Gateway Project, as they are unable to satisfy basic safety, environmental and regulatory requirements. In fact documents from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans identified that: “Behaviour models specific to dilbit spills do not exist, and existing commercial models for conventional oil do not allow parameter specific modifications.”

On the federal level contrary to what Stephen Harper has said about awaiting the evidence and panel results, the Government of Canada has been pushing ahead with spending over $100 million to support what should be industry based research. This comes at a time of major cuts to science funding for climate change, marine contaminants and ELA.

In fact, documents show that the Government of Canada has been spending taxpayer’s money to support this project, going as far as to name the DFO’s work “the Northern Gateway Project”.

The BC Green Party and Andrew Weaver acknowledged that the BC Government had submitted a very thorough review of BC concerns to the NEB Joint Review Panel. “Today, we call on call on the BC Government to follow through on the concerns they raised in their JRP submission, “said Dr. Weaver. “In particular, we ask that Premier Christy Clark :

Give an emphatic no to the Northern Gateway Project without ‘needless delay’.

Given the evidence available today the BC Government should implement an immediate moratorium on heavy oil tankers in BC coastal waters.”

In the House of Commons, Prime Minister Stephen Harper has claimed that the federal government was waiting for the NEB panel’s advice. In fact, in answer to a question from Elizabeth May in June 6, 2013 Question Period, Stephen Harper said,

“… the project in question, of course, is subject to a joint review panel process. Obviously, we believe in the rule of law and in adjudicating these things based on scientific and policy concerns. The government will obviously withhold its decision on the matter until we see the results of the panel and its work.” (emphasis added.)

“It appears to be an inescapable conclusion that the prime minister has misled the House,” said Ms. May. “If the project were approved, the spending on better weather forecasting along tanker routes and a developed understanding of how dilbit behaves in case of an oil spill would be minimum steps. Nevertheless, the project is not approved and tens of millions of dollars are being spent as though the process was a mere formality on the way to getting the dilbit boarded on super tankers through some of the most hazardous waters on earth.”

Interim Green Party of BC leader Adam Olsen added, “British Columbians need to be very aware that the federal government is talking out of both sides of its mouth in claiming to be waiting for the results of the review. The BC government looked at the evidence and found Enbridge has not completed even rudimentary science to understand what dilbit does when it is spilled. It is shocking to find that Ottawa is using our tax dollars to help Enbridge win approval for a project most British Columbians oppose.”

WOW! another great research from Elizabeth May & her busy associates. Thankyou! We’ll be interested to see this press conference carried on newscasts today. Even if the present gov’t has used public dollars for the research (& probably would keep it under wraps), it is very good that EM has brought it to the light of day for us, the PUBLIC! very ironic.

today’s really sneaky announcement: DFO’s funding the long-long-requested small harbour dredging. sneaky, only for pre-election goodies, expecting us to forget that huge list of their hubris-gendered omnibus bills.

Thank you Elizabeth May and Andrew Webber for keeping us all informed and for exposing the duplicitous nature of our current federal government…what a sad state of disrepair democracy in Canada is when this sort of underhanded activity is allowed to occur.

Rory

Zeitgeist: Moving Forward – its quite simple…. humans in this paradigm cannot organize goods and services for the betterment of humanity, money must be removed in order to do this.

Norine

Hear, hear! Right on Rory!

Andy

Also look up, Thrive, What Will it Take, narrated by Foster Gamble and look up, The Thrive Movement. Energy from oil has been obsolete for years but trillions in oil revenue is at stake. The thorium reaction, a nuclear fuel that is cheap and plentiful. It’s safe at the other end of the spectrum compared to today’s nuclear tech. Runaway, core meltdown is impossible, the reaction needs to be sustained, constantly. Also, a very small amount of nuclear waste is produced that is far safer. As well, nuclear waste and old nuclear warheads can be consumed in the process. Canada should be spending research money on development of the thorium concept. Several countries are doing just that. Imagine the competitive advantage they will have. But, Candu, WON’T.

ColinD

With little modification, the CANDU can already burn thorium. However, it is a 40 year old design, and research needs to be done to create a newer, better, cheaper and safer design that can burn thorium and waste effectively.

Ariadne Etienne

Solar and Wind today, Geothermal tomorrow, Fusion next millenium. If we are to move forward and begin the climb to a Type 1 Civilization, we need to end our dependence on fossil fuels. Period.

billyedtimmy

“Safe, compared to today’s nuclear tech”.

Well, that’s not saying much.

Besides, Nuclear BS is too expensive compared to renewables today, no matter which form of that technology you choose.

Ariadne Etienne

Conspiracy theory nonsense helps none of us. Ignorance is our enemy, and our government is the centre of ignorance in this country.

Rick

But it has become the normal way for this government to do business and we have put up with it.

Darren Baker

Sadly, yes our electorate has put up with it do to the apathy of most voters.

and again stop quoting fox news north you senile old bat. you are the sheer ignorant one.

happylada

Weird. I point out that this entire thing was a publicity stunt to rally the troops who must be in disarray to be so desperate. And somehow I’m ignorant? Only in your tinfoil hat world.

Ariadne Etienne

You seem to believe all the crap that is fit to print.

sdgreen46

What utter nonsense! The Federal government for years has been criticized for not doing enough to prepare for coastal oil and other shipping issues. Now that they do, the radical environmentalists and the Green Party go nuts. Certainly as part of the ongoing investigation of the oil industries proposals for building a western terminal for international export, it only makes total sense to have the federal authorities do this study. I have come to the conclusion that the Green Party and sycophants would rather all of us to live in caves.

Jeremiah

Off course nonsense is anytime we call our elected leadership into question. Let me remind you that this government has no clue as to what the future holds, they have no plan except to keep pouring tax payers money into this ever craving carbon export hole…. Fossil fuel is a thing of the past and it would make more sense to spend the money on development of “Green” solutions. Tar sands and fracking are the 2 dumbest idea of the 21st century. But No’ Sense is still the Tories best foot forward…

Malloonkai

Well said. Why this simple truth cannot be seen by so many people (though hardly a majority of people) is beyond me.

Truth Seeker

they have a plan alright … to scour-out Canadian hard-won laws & institutions toward the ‘seamless’ integration of Canada into the United States of North America (& probably S America too) as per the ‘Implementation Schedule’ which Shelley Ann Clark, the trusted Exec.Asst. of Germain Denis, the 3rd negotiator (& detail man) of the FTA, saw as she cleared out her boss’ papers for shredding at the end of the so-called negotiations. This Implementation Schedule contained a list of unobtrusive events that had to take place each year to make the seamless integration before Canadians saw what had been given away. Her story & interviews are on the internet.

J_D_R

False. If a billion dollar company wants to run a dangerous operation in which they will receive massive monetary benefit, they should be responsible for doing their own homework and making sure Canadians are protected.

Not the taxpayers.

Whether you support the pipeline or not, our government is handing over 100$ million dollars to a BILLION dollar company that will do little to increase the standard of living for the majority of Canadians.

If we can’t spare a few million for the Round Table or the Great Lakes project I don’t see how this could ever be justified.

Malloonkai

Speaking as one of the sycophants to whom you referred, it is our sychophantish opinion that it is Harper’s policies and politicking that will land us in Caveland. Fancy that! However, the result will be the same in both our cases.

Clem Kadiddlehopper

You’re full of #*it and you know it.

Jpm

Keep drinking that coolaid sdgreen and make sure you look your children directly in the eye while you explain what we’re allowing companies like enbridge to do to their future. You may be able to afford to remain ignorant but rest assured that they will be suffering the result.

Jim

Thank you Elizabeth May for the hard work you do.

happylada

May – get a life. Or a research department so you don’t embarrass yourself so often! OR just watch Sun News – they had this story 6 months ago!

Solo_poke

Fascists need to be hunted and persecuted…

happylada

Are you threatening me?

That is of course ONE of the greenies demonstration of their logical and calm approach to making their points.

When they lose the intellectual war, they resort to violence.

Science is Nature

Kara

If anyone needs to get a life it’s you happylada. You’ve posted more garbage here than anyone else. If you channeled that hate into something more positive the world would be a better place. Yes even senile old bitties like you can make a difference but first you have to get rid of all that misplaced hate before it eats you up inside. You ask a lot of people to show evidence here and they have and yet you have yet to show any to back up anything you have said? Are we to assume that because you are a dinosaur that you’ve had enough time to learn all that there is to know? Do you know what a biosphere is? Do you know that everything humans do effect the biosphere and sometimes cause irreversible damage to critical resources? What do you actually know about the natural environment and the effects of human activities to it?

happylada

Interesting, not a single fact in your factless diatribe after accusing me of being factless, which in fact is not a fact. Except maybe that I’m old, which is a fact; USED to gain a person some respect. Does that make you feel better?

Have you ever thought of what emotional lack you possess to need some as vacuous as May as a hero? And a point of fact – I think I have left the world a better place, unlike what the Greens are attempting.

Fact: I pointed out that this report was released by the government months ago, which is a FACT you ignore. Fact: Which makes May’s rant irrelevant if not an outright lie. That was my point, and NO further facts are unnecessary.

And I DO appreciate the fact that you did NOT threaten to end my life prematurely, unlike other greens.

The world WOULD be a much better place IF Politicians would stop lying and the gullible stopped believing them. Yes I am old. And yes, I DID have a pet dinosaur named Elizabeth. Yes I have spent too much time in university, school and business. And yes, people with a certain age have wisdom and experience that allows them to make rational judgements.

I would never hold your youth and inexperience against you. I would however attempt to prick your rainbow balloon in hopes you MAY actually think a bit and reject the balarney fed to you by the anti-job, anti-progress Greens and their lying machines.

Fact: Ever checked out the Green Party’s friend, the Pembina Institute? Politically corruption at its finest – partner of the Greens. How is that for irony! They just snookered the citizens of Calgary out of millions of dollars, also for anti-oil propaganda, and billed it to Calgary as scientists – not a scientist in the group that worked on their multi-million dollar fraud.

But May is OK with that? Just because its also anti-oil?

And your patron saint? David whatsisname? Hypocrite extraordinaire. Now he’s both OLD and SENILE. Has to have a half dozen young girls to attend him on tour? Dirty old man! Now THAT’s a fact.

Why don’t you open your eyes and see that these Greenies are just another word for leftists – anti-capitalists in disguise, with a goal of milking corporate Canada of every nickel it has. Then when there are no jobs, no oil and y’all are freezing in the dark with no celphones, they will consider themselkves a success.

And don’t worry about my health – I’ve been bashing low-information voters and low-ethic politicians since about the time of Diefenbaker cutting up the Avro Arrow – probably before your parents were born.

happylada

“Do you know what a biosphere is? Do you know that everything humans do effect the biosphere and sometimes cause irreversible damage to critical resources? What do you actually know about the natural environment and the effects of human activities to it?:”

Actually I wonder if YOU know what a biosphere is or how it works (sry, my computer dropped this last post)

Do you have ANY idea how many hundreds of variables there are in this biosphere, and that in many cases, if the fine tuning we see was off by 1/2 of 1 percent, it would all fall apart. Do you know that the wind and ocean currents are dependent on the angle of the earths axis? Yet you believe its survived nicely for a billion years, and its still here. Amazing.

Do you understand the effect of sun spots and neutrinos on the climate of the earth – sun spots by radiation and neutrinos by excitement? Do you know that the solar fusion of the sun is not sufficient to account for its energy reaching earth? Do you know the cycles of the sun? Do you know they grew wheat in Greenland 1000 years ago, and vineyards in England? Do you know that Glacier Bay in Alaska has retreated about 200 miles – when their was NO fossil fuels being burned, except by the Natives who burned to shale and bitumen rocks for heat? Do you know that the arctic ice cap is so thick and so extensive this year as to make up for several decades of melting in the NORMAL cycle? Something in the order of one million sq miles of new ice, and the ships that normally pass through the northern passage were unable to do so?

Did you know Polar Bears are dying, NOT because of warming, but because of overpopulation?

And are you aware that 50 years ago, every scientist on earth (according to them) had no doubts whatsoever that we were entering an ice age that threatened the existence of mankind?

Not one item I listed is under the control of mankind. Nothing we can do will change any of it. CO2 is plant food – we sequester it, and plants starve. Most of the “greenhouse gas”, about 98%, is water vapor – something we have absolutely NO control over.

” the green we see around us comes from the tiny amount of carbon dioxide in the air today: 387 parts per million, just 0.0387% of all the molecules in the air (as at March 2009). The amount of CO2 in the air would have to increase some hundredfold, say to 30,000 parts per million (3%), before it would become a problem . . .” Carbon is necessary also for the production of nitrogen for plants.

The sun controls our temperatures, and last I heard there is nothing we can do you change its output.

The angle of our axis inclination determines how the sun heats the earth and oceans, and controls seasons, and that combination determines our storms, not burning fossil fuels. Last I heard, there was nothing you could do about that either.

Fact – according to the weather experts of 10 years ago, New York should be under water. Last I heard it wasn’t.

Be careful where you get your data from. Follow the money. The money pouring in to anti-oil (multiple millions if not billions) to create public confusion about the issue, is coming from money groups determined to stop both our distribution of oil on the world market and the financial independence of Canada. Can you guess where from?

The greens and their corrupt friends have an agenda that is being financed from offshore, and helping you live a better life is NOT one of their goals

Cher H.

Thank you for bringing this to Canadians attention. I’m furious my tax dollars would be used in such a way.

If you have any evidence to prove me wrong, please present it. In the meantime you are just an idiot with no evidence and a keyboard.

I’ll type slow so you can read it: IF Sun news reported it as being released several months ago (and it was) in what way (in a rational person’s mind) is Sun News a propaganda rag. Isn’t it true that your leader simply lied?

J_D_R

Are you pissed yet Canada?

Malloonkai

This is a good question. No, we are clearly not pissed (enough) yet. We are like people heading knowingly for a violent car crash that we somehow can’t avoid. After that, we’ll be genuinely pissed.

Bear_Code

sitting passively doesn’t seem to work any more

Truth Seeker

but action has to be careful … see the George Kralik interview with Glen Kealey – there is a scarey part described should Quebec secede & their northern First Nations want to remain with Canada … the soldiers of Ft. Drum across the river from Kingston would don the Blue Berets , cross over to Montreal (where there is already a large stash of ammunition in an armoury) & ‘put down’ the native rebellion. Quebec secession was on the “Implementation Schedule” & Lucien Bouchard was put in to Quebec to make it happen – he nearly succeeded! Water transfer to the US (without protection for Canada) was definitely on the Schedule too. And that ain’t all. Canada would provide the resources, Mexico would do the dirty work & the present USA would run the whole show.

happylada

Very funny.

KLGP

When Canadians are “pissed” they are considered to be drunk unlike Americans for whom this term means angry. When Canadians are angry they are considered to be ‘Pissed off’.

Thank you, Kootenay lake grammar police.

Scott

And wrong.

Truth Seeker

maybe we all are Pissed-off & should go out & get really Pissed! …just joking, I hate the stuff. (if you don’t laugh, sometimes, you’ll die weeping!)

Harper refuses to answer any question from the public and will only take scripted questions from the press. That in my book is a perfect example of a coward.

happylada

Funny, the rest of the world (I mean the rational rest of the world) see him as an incredibly effective leader with an honesty level exceeding almost all the rest of government, and an economy that is again the most stable in the world. care to prove ANY of the allegations you infer?

Solo_poke

You lie…

happylada

Prove it. Like I said, you hurl insults, but offer no facts to back up your ignorance

KS Currie

@happylada: Why didn’t you reply to

Geoffrey Pounder…his post was well written and well thought out.

happylada

See my response above.

Have YOU ever read one of their financial reports? I’m a stock trader. I DO know where the money goes. I doubt you do.

Where does this profit go? Well, the government gets about as much as Enbridge. A lot of the balance is paid out to shareholders – those pension funds of the unions, teachers and other retirees spend on for their daily expenses.

Some is kept in reserve to build new projects.

Most greenies think corporations profits are like Scrooge McDuck – hoarded in a room. That is not what happens to money in a corporation. Some of it is in a bank – it provides mortgages and car loans. A lot of it gets spent into the local and national economy. The government gets loads. And their thousands of employees get very high wages.

You see, I’ve been there – you haven’t. You are just spouting ignorance you’ve accepted as fact!

KS Currie

Perhaps I would take you more seriously if you would post under your real name.

blueskyonrainydays

You are a neocon shill and here only to disrupt good discussions by people that care about our environment.We all know who you are,you have exposed yourself.Harper must be the worst Canadian leader we have ever had the misfortune to have.He lies,misleads and runs away every time he is up against the wall to the Canadian public.The action of proroguing parliament has never been used as often as this government .And you call that an incredible effective leader.From what planet do you come from ?You need to get off your meds,your are obviously hallucinating.

happylada

This isn’t a discussion by good people – its a hate Harper fest with no rational logic or facts involved. Just pure, unadulterated bigotry. And never a fact in sight!

You make a lot of accusations that you cannot prove – lies, misleads, and running away for example. Harper is recognized as a great Prime minister by people who have the ability to think clearly, and most nations around the world respect him.

You are simply an irrational character assassin – dealing lies with absolutely NO justification.

What do you know about proroguing parliament? Its been done several times by all parties. It was a very wise decision to do so. There is a reason why the policy is in place, and never before in Canadian history has two illegitimate parties attempted to overthrow the government. It was completely justified, and the Governor General approved it. As Mcleans magazine wrote: “Is there anything inherently wrong with proroguing Parliament? No, of course not.”

And also from McLeans “Other PM’s have used prorogation more often than Harper has, and yet, the news about prorogation is all about Harper and his decision to use his right. I don’t understand why suddenly the act of prorogation, or the timing to call back MP’s is so news worthy, when it was not so in the past, ever. ”

So this post proves you are lying.

I’ll accept your apology now!

blueskyonrainydays

Using prorogation in the manner and purpose of same by the Harper government is/was a subversion of democratic values and freedom in parliament.

I’ve been pissed since 1996? when I heard the courageous insider-whistle-blower, Shelley Ann Clark’s talk in Vancouver. The dots have actually been joining up.

Truth Seeker

correction: pissed-off

http://www.Redbrown.me/ Red Brown

The Average Canadian that pays no attention to things like this, Or things outside their own Area or city, etc.. May not even know about such things. Then there are those who are completely brainwashed by mainstream media into thinking Climate change is non-existant, and the government is doing everything in the best interest of all of us. #IdleNoMore has been paying attention, and trying to educate the masses on this and other related issues for over a year now(Probably longer), it is much more than just a Native thing, if you have been paying attention… Massive Laws Changes such as the Omnibus legislation are going to seriously harm our Country in the long run. I AM PISSED, deffinately, I BEEN PISSED for a long time, for a lot of reasons… We should all be pissed about this, we should be even more pissed about so many citizens not giving a damn about what this government is doing to ALL of us.

Truth Seeker

that is called “diversion” (sports mania, TV entertainment, anything to take the poor overworked family’s mind off reality) – what all gov’ts want for the population, to mask their back-room shenanigans. (Noam Chomsky “How The World Works”, a most insightful read)

happylada

So you like Communists? they are NOT eco-friendly!

Solo_poke

Fascists pavlonian reaction is to attack “the left”…

happylada

Imagine anyone still believing in Global warming? No one denies that climate change takes place. They grew wheat in Greenland a millennium ago, and had vineyards in England. Of course it changes. But man has nothing to do with it. Co2 is plant food, and we may currently only have 1/6th of what we had in the past in our atmosphere today. That is simply false propaganda to rally the ignorant around a cause.

But you green elitists know so much more than the rest of us poor slobs who actually have to work for a living, some of us in the oil industry making the material YOU depend on for your cushy protected life. Stop being a hypocrite – stop using any technology or eating or wearing anything made from any industry you think causes global change. then, and only then do you have the moral right to spout your diarrhea about forcing your ideology on the rest of us.

Solo_poke

Imagine anyone still believing the corporate propaganda being spewed by the petro-pimps/environmental terrorists. As soon as most of the boomers die off, (in the next 5-10 years), the fossil fuel industry is finished as corporate welfare will come to a quick and hopefully painful end.

happylada

And you will find no food in the foodlines, no welfare checks, no gas for your car, and no heat for your house. You may actually have to work, IF you can find it.

Love it!

http://www.Redbrown.me/ Red Brown

The Government of CANADA has basically sold large chunks of the the oil sands to China, after removing environmental restrictions on watersways and lakes, etc. Omnibuss C-38 and C-45 were responsible for this. Without those envrionmental protections, it is now the responsibillity of the Chinese companies aka government, to follow their own Environmental laws in our country while they destroy our land for resources they will profit from in their economy over the next 30 + years… Fort Chip, is a community upriver from Fort Mac and the oil sands, that has been continuously contaminated over recent years, Their water is contaminated, their land as well, Children are being diagnosed with Cancers and illnesses that are rare enough that we’ve never seen them before… ALL IN CANADA. So while you cry about Green Elitists and everybody being hypocrits because North Americans are so addicted and reliant on oil products, Reality still happens, and real things continue to destroy the things that you completely overlooked. proved my point in my first post, Propoganda and evil technology, etc.. Sure Co2 is plant food, but when we run out of plants, where does it go? Everything changes, but we need to start making the decision on which changes are the right changes for future generations… Believe what you will, but do some research, and don’t listen to whatever the government tells you is right, that’s just Naive…

Richard Weatherill

Maybe pissed – but not enough to get off our asses…….

Truth Seeker

well, I’ve been ragging-on for years now, but very few pay any attention to the very overarching problems: ***1. our monetary system that shifted gov’t borrowing to the private banks, ballooning our Nat. Debt thru compound interest, those interest payments sucking up too much of gov’t revenue (see the UTube “Oh Canada Movie – Our Bought & Sold Out Land – Full” (2009) – Elizabeth May features a lot in this) &***2.The sell-out of Canada to the Bildergerg or Trilateral Commission purpose of ‘globalization’ – the USNA where Canada would be the ‘attic’ providing resources, Mexico the ‘basement’ doing the dirty work, & the present USA calling all the shots. That is why I believe this gov’t is scouring-out Canada for the seamless integration. Seems that ‘Manifest Destiny’ is happening.

happylada

Seems like you’re having a nightmare. things will be OK when you wake up!

Malloonkai

It’s all very simple: a small group of wealthy people will get very much richer by means of Northern Gateway while we all count down to climate Armageddon. Why this is so, is another question…

Stéphanie

And while we all pay taxes…

mitchins

The fat cat buddies of this government do not pay their fare share of the taxes and the Cons tax cuts go to the multicorps and their rich share holders. We should all study the causes for the French revolution. In short the Rich nobles refused to pay taxes and left the country.

Hence the King and his buddies lost their heads.

History is again repeating itself

happylada

And the country was plunged into anarchy where only the most savage survived. For years. Britain had a reasoned revolution and has always been stronger than France since. Learn your history!

Solo_poke

More senile nonsense.

happylada

Were you saying something?

happylada

No one pays the percentage of taxes the oil industry does in Canada. Without them, your taxes would be much higher. Probably the single biggest contributor to Canadian tax and general revenues. Greens on the other hand contribute far less but want even more. Funny, that!

Solo_poke

Corporate welfare, corporate tax breaks and offshore tax heavens means that the petro-pimps take much more than they contribute. The industry propaganda parrots, will say anything to mislead the public.

happylada

You are so ignorant. Why not go upstairs and see mommy. maybe when you grow out of your diapers, you will finally learn something.

Don’t the rich get it? There’s no Elysium to run to when the environment gets unliveable. Or is there?

FeelALot

That’s why there’s MARS, and its planned habitation! The elite will simply leave this planet a-shambles, in search of another one to soon destroy, too!:

“It is a similar idea for a mission to Mars – you can exploit the natural Martian resources to generate fuel.” – Professor Mark Sephton, a professor of organic geochemistry at Imperial College London

Jordan

Wow Thanks. A student group I am in is pressuring the University of Winnipeg to drop ties with Enbridge and find alternate ethical funding for a youth drop in program. it seems these oil companies have a lot of money to come into communities and promote themselves as green… but cannot pay for their own research?

Sigh

Richard Weatherill

Enbridge is too busy spending large dollars on ongoing advertising campaigns in the media to fund anything else. Check out The Walrus magazine. Enbridge ads are front and centre.

Jojo

I was very disappointed when I saw that ad in The Walrus…not going to get their magazine anymore.

Richard Weatherill

That – and the discontinuance of the political cartoon on the back page……(too many swipes @ Harper?)

Anne

Hmmm… Richard, if you do the deed the comedians will find you.

Richard Weatherill

But …. if one feels compelled to accept an Enbridge ad (presumably because funding is oh so tight and sketchy), then one may feel compelled to go a little easier on an oil-friendly government….? Not that I want to offer up excuses but alas, we don’t exactly live in an ideal world.

happylada

What? Control the press with green ideology? How noble of you!

Richard Weatherill

What exactly is “green ideology”? Do you have any idea? If so, kindly regale us!

happylada

I have many thoughts about greenies – care to tell me which point you think I’m ignorant about? My comment was entirely appropriate given the issue being discussed was censorship of any dissenting view.

Richard Weatherill

Their ideology. You tend to use it as a club – and you don’t even know what it is (otherwise you would have stated it as part of your argument).

happylada

I don’t have several pages. Simply put it seems from those here and elsewhere that there are two requirements for green philosophy 1) be wrong 2) do it at the top of your lungs.

Censorship is wrong in any context. Censorship to starve a business into refusing ads because you oppose the subject of those ads is economic terrorism.

Like the green terrorist actions of spiking trees to injure workers, you care little about the end result or the people you hurt, as long as you get heard!

Ariadne Etienne

And fascists such as yourself believe that 1) the truth is whatever I think it is (subject to change of mind) and 2) criminals are everyone who disagrees with me and they should all be shot, including welfare mothers and those damned communist students.

Grow up already.

Ariadne Etienne

Many thoughts, yes, but no facts. Thoughts are not facts. If you’d have got an education rather than waste it on fox news you’d have learned that.

Solo_poke

When they blur the line between government and corporations the inevitable result is fascism. The reich wing propaganda parrots cannot be trusted.

happylada

And the left can? This article proved the left is either incompetent or lying – take your choice.

Ariadne Etienne

Actually it demonstrated how much of a fool you are.

Ariadne Etienne

While the press remains a corporation and the news is entertainment the media will remain useless, almost, in fact, as useless as you.

Anne

I will be doing the same thing.

happylada

Why not? censorship your thing? The don’t have a right to make their case? The most intolerant people I’ve ever men are the ones demanding tolerance. The greens are just as irrational and controlling. You think your view is the only one that has value so you shut down ever other dissenting, and probably more rational presentation? Hypocrite!

Sue Sheane

happylada…I see you have posted quite a bit here but it is all ad hominum attacks on people because they don’t see things your way. Why not put forth reasonable comment in a less confrontational manner so we can have a serious discussion. Name calling accomplishes absolutely nothing.

happylada

I am disgusted by the hypocrisy here – hence my perhaps antagonistic tone. But I’d love to have a serious discussion on the attempted censorship that was the focal point of many of my criticisms. That and the fact that this entire publicity stunt by May was a cheap, and irrelevant attack on Harper, and patently untrue. When Harper was open enough to release the documents months ago, how can her credibility be trusted? Or her facts?

It seems to me that May gets unwarranted worship from some rather uninformed people who run with the herd rather than think for themselves.

So just why DID May even make this announcement and attempt to smear Harper?

Richard Weatherill

” So just why DID May even make this announcement and attempt to smear Harper?” Because, if you care to look back at just what Joe Oliver actually said, there was no mention of the very large amount of money that was to be devoted to this process. In addition, Harper has muzzled government scientists and researchers, by not aloowing them to talk independantly to the media – which means he and his cronies can decide what to release and what not to release to the general public. The fact of the matter though, is that there is no amount of research that can be done with regard to the effects of a large winter storm on a super tanker in that particular locale. It would all be speculation at best – which doesn’t need $100 million as the information is all ready at hand.

happylada

Well, thx at least for a response that didn’t include the risk of physical harm.

But why attack Harper and lie about him?

As I pointed out elsewhere, IF industry had done this report, you would have screamed that it was tainted by oil money. If the government does it rationally, you scream subsidy of oil.

You can’t have it both ways.

““It appears to be an inescapable conclusion that the prime minister has misled the House,”

I don’t see any evidence

“If the project were approved, the spending on better weather forecasting along tanker routes and a developed understanding of how dilbit behaves in case of an oil spill would be minimum steps.”

But HOW could you in all good conscience approve something without knowing the risk?

“Nevertheless, the project is not approved and tens of millions of dollars are being spent as though the process was a mere formality on the way to getting the dilbit boarded on super tankers through some of the most hazardous waters on earth.””

This is sheer hypocrisy. If the government had NOT done this there would be, as others have done, been a scream for a review and more scientific input.

NO, there is only ONE conclusion to draw, Ms May. You don’t want prosperity in Canada, You don’t want oil, and you don’t care who you hurt in the process as long as you and your terribly small wads of vociferous followers get their way, and force our economy back to the stone age.

Richard Weatherill

“NO, there is only ONE conclusion to draw, Ms May. You don’t want prosperity in Canada,” You quite obviously haven’t read the Green Party platform – which outlines several ways of achieving prosperity, without ripping everything to shreds in the process. Call back when you’ve read ther platform – which is a very good indicator of Green Ideology BTW……http://www.greenparty.ca/platform2011/economy

Ariadne Etienne

You don’t see anything, that’s your problem.

Solo_poke

Your village called, and they are upset because they are missing their village idiot.

happylada

I think there is a mistake – its your village that called.

Ariadne Etienne

You’re the mistake.

JH

I attend the University of Winnipeg. What student group is this Jordan?

I’d also like to add that Enbridge and other large oil companies are making their way into communities across Canada to brand themselves as partners and ecologically safe. This is especially prevalent in indigenous communities

happylada

They are safe. Just what is your beef? If you were NOT a hypocrite, you would give up everything made from oil. Oh! I forgot – its OK if the oil comes from the mideast where they still have slave labor, no environmental protection and kill gays. Got it!

Solo_poke

The false choice offered by an industry which is a oligopoly based on the corruption of elected public officials. Your generation (the baby boomers) are on their last leg, good riddance to the worst generation in human history.

happylada

Funny, you can’t form a precise sentence, but think I’m senile.

And you think we’re the worst generation in history, Maybe you’d prefer to live in Afghanistan, where the progress that my generation has left for you was not in place. You ride in cars we designed, on roads we built, wearing clothes we made, using an internet and computers we designed, going to universities we built, and enjoying health benefits that we paid for and supplied free of charge.

Typical ungrateful idiot! Just what makes you think your generation will do any better a job? I suggest you have neither the moral character, the work ethic or the intelligence to do any better at all.

You have NO evidence of ANY corrupt elected officials. IF you have any, I, and the entire news and media outlets would be ecstatic to break the news. But Its not there, and unless you have some proof – you are simply lying.

Most people are socialists and environmentalists in University. Then they grow up, put on the big boy panties and get a life. Some don’t ever grow up and continue to live in fairy land. Not sure which you are. But i can guess . . .

Jeremy Hodder

You are nothing more then a partisan mouthpiece, you must be well paid to put Stephen Harper on such a high pedestal. You see the rest of us just want a good leader regardless of which party they are from. You will blindly follow your party to the gates of hell as long as they get in.

happylada

You may be too immature to realize it, but this is a good investment on the part of the Govt – the royalties and taxes they will receive from this project are inestimable. But greens never had a clue about making sense anyway, so its NOT surprising that they believe this crap!

Richard Weatherill

Well, if that isn’t the pure BS line the governments like to pedal – and you swallowed it, proverbial hook, line, and sinker! A cursory check into (say) the BC government revenues vs expenditures in the forest industry since WWII will show you that the BC taxpayer has suffered a net loss, made up through income taxes paid. Beware any government bearing “gifts”!

happylada

You forgot the wages paid into the economy. Par for a greenie. You sure know little if anything about economics.

Richard Weatherill

I did? Government revenues consist of taxes collected from the wages, in addition to royalties, et al. Also, if there was a “net profit”, why are small towns dying in this province?

happylada

Well, one reason is the irrational demands of environmentalists. Then the outrageous demands of unions who prefer to shut down an unprofitable plant than take a wage reduction, or even forgo an unrealistic raise. Both of which you support. So If you want to know why there are ghost towns, try looking in a mirror.

Then of course, there is the depletion of the resource, and in the case of timber, the pine beetle, which I am surprised the Greenies have not also blamed on Harper.

An interesting event was the closing of many NFLD fishing towns with the collapse of the Cod stocks. This was caused, in my opinion by the policy of throwing back the small fish and keeping the big ones. What you ended up with was a breeding stock of runts – genetically inferior stock – to rebuild an industry. It didn’t happen. Whether this was anything anyone could have foreseen is questionable, but it does go to show what happens when governments attempt to regulate an industry about which they know nothing – as the greens insist must happen.

There are lots of other reasons – demographic reasons – that have nothing to do with politics or policy as well, but I just nailed the three big ones.

Richard Weatherill

You hardly “nailed” anything.

The environmentalists firstly, do not have “irrational” demands. Britannia Mines is a good example of how governments spent more money in cleanup than they made in revenues – and STILL haven’t completely restored effects of sustained pollution:http://www.sfu.ca/geog/geog351fall06/group03/Rob'sWebPages/Britannia%20Mine.htm You mentioned cod stocks in the east. Why not concentrate closer to home, with salmon stocks so low that fisheries have been closed this year. Nothing to do with “big fish, small fish”, and everything to do with unviable conditions. Yet you would call environmentalists “irrational”?

Depletion of forest resource was happening long before the pine beetle (which BTW was in large part due to both government and industry insistence on monoculture planting, which concentrates & weakens trees, leaving them suseptible to “plagues”). Ain’t it “strange” though that people who live in BCs interior report “truckload after truckload” of raw logs heading for the US.

Wage reductions “traditionally” signal the CEOs and investors getting ready for big bonuses. You can’t blame workers for not wanting to “get it in the neck” Check out Air Canada in that regard.

Solo_poke

An old senile fucktard giving advice is too funny.

happylada

Funny – to quote your model – Alfred E Newman – “you have to learn from the mistakes of others – you will never live long enough to make them all yourself.” But man, you sure try hard. All those greenie madmen you idolize are a bit old as well. Wisdom is NEVER found in youth. then they grow up, and SOME get smart. In the meantime, you just need your diapers changed, you are so full of it!. I won’t hold your youth and inexperience against you.

Scott

And one of the casualties was our Center of the Universe…sigh.

catfish

Disgusting. Thanks to all of you for pointing this out.

Rodney Dick

Thank You Elizabeth May and Andrew Weaver, keep on top of this bunch of ReformCon Corporate bandits. 2015 people get out and vote , Heave Steve!

Once again flagged for spam and pretending that FAUX news north is a real source of real information.

David

The sad thing is that unless the opposition parties somehow or other unite we will hand the conservatives another victory with less than forty percent of people voting for them in less than two years from now. People in Alberta would vote for a turnip as long as it’s called a PC.

Clem Kadiddlehopper

I see Trudeau winning, enough Canadians are fed up of the never ending corruption of the Harper govt, they need to go – I think Elizabeth May is AMAYZING. My wish list would be for Trudeau to take the Helm and work closely with those parties that wish to work toward increasing commerce in a responsible manor. Non of this slash and burn exploit everything baloney.

There is no reason why we can’t move forward responsibly. Lets be a leader again. Canada was once the shining light of the world. It’s very sad to see what has become of us.

Truth Seeker

The Libs have proven they are just Tory2! Cretien reversed all his promises in that Red Book., & they always avoided a vote with the opposition to bring Harper down.

katcmak

I’d much rather see the Greens in power, with Elizabeth May as Prime Minister.

Joanne

Sadly, I agree about the majority of voters in AB–and I live in Alberta. Sigh!

deh3

Approximately a third of those who cast votes in Alberta in the 2011 federal election did not vote for the Conservatives, and the province had the lowest voter turnout, which tends to favour the status quo.

happylada

You know of a better way? Democratic voting is always a truly irrational way to run a country, but then again, it beats all the other forms of government. You are just ticked off that your ideology is rightly seen by most Canadians as irrelevant.

deh3

What is your source of information of irrelevancy of my ideology?

Solo_poke

Joseph Goebbels book on propaganda. “Make the lie big enough and repeat it often enough until it becomes truth”…

deh3

The Progressive Conservatives no longer exist as a federal party. Approximately a third of those who cast votes in Alberta in the 2011 federal election did not vote for the Conservatives, and the province had the lowest voter turnout, which tends to favour the status quo. Danny Handelman

Manny

If our tax dollars are being spent on things that have no benefit to us as Canadians, or worse, being lost and unaccounted for, are we contributing to illegal activity, and therefore breaking the law by paying taxes?

happylada

Your premise is flawed; therefore your conclusion is irrational!

Solo_poke

Or so says a senile old fool…

Toby Snelgrove

No surprise here. What do you expect from our democratic dictator. Nice work elizabeth.

GDook

Toby, I see you are also tired of electing dictators. Although I appreciate the work of the green party, replacing one party with another will never get us out of the spin we are in. Parties always revert to “party policy” rather than having the elected reps actually represent the interests of the electorate. What we need to do is have a new ‘non-party’ that will actually take input from citizens and make policy accordingly. The PM needs to be elected separately just like we do with city politics. There also needs to be a swift solution to remove politicians who are not able to accept the wishes of the citizens and govern accordingly.

happylada

Great idea. And since the greens represent a tiny fraction of Canadians, they should be one of the first to go. OR rather quit, so that their ideals can be demonstrated to work… Good luck with that!

Lyle

Unbiased research: To whom do we turn for this? Both Enbridge and the federal government stand to gain from having studies claim that the Gateway pipeline will have little to no impact on the environment.

I am not against tar sands development, I would simply like to see responsible development and not at the expense of the environment and the people who will suffer due to reckless development.

I have said it before, we cannot compete with developing countries for cheaper labour, but I think we might consider developing our energy for the purpose of lowering our energy costs and thus be able to manufacture goods in Canada as cheaply as other countries.

Truth Seeker

the Bilderbergs’ & Trilateral Commissioners’ (many of which are Canadians) agenda is basically ‘divide & conquer’ – resources in one country, manufacturing in another, some ‘parts’ here some there, so that no country is self-sufficient, but dependent on ‘globalization’ & fearful for their jobs so would accept lower wages. They are very active & their agendas are not secret.

SLHiltz

How far would those funds have improved upon renewable energy? They would have made a huge difference! I feel we are losing our democracy and it is quite disheartening. What has changed in our political system to allow one man to disregard protocol and take underhanded approaches to improve profits for foreign corporations while Canadians are cheated?

Elliebean4

We have not been a democracy for a while now. Nothing is changing because no one is doing anything – no one who can. Thank Elizabeth May. She is the one who is working tirelessly and some of the First Nations groups who have worked to save our lands.

deh3

There has been a trend toward increasing democracy through expanding the franchise to those aged 18-21, women, First Nations, tenants, etc., but these gains have been offset by the increasing electoral quotient. Danny Handelman

happylada

Think about this for a minute. taxation without representation is a democratic mantra. So how do 18 years olds living at home, or Natives living on the government dole, warrant a vote that requires ME to pay taxes for something I am opposed to? If you want to vote, shouldn’t you at least have some skin in the game? Why should a tenant (who pays no taxes) have the same right to vote in new taxes as the landlord who ends up paying those taxes? Doesn’t it seem unfair to have people voting for taxes that will not affect them personally?

deh3

18-year-olds may be contributing sales and income taxes, and effectively are paying property taxes through their parents paying more in property taxes to house one additional person. I am opposed to the First Nations reserve system which exempts First Nations from many provincial and federal taxes while still permitting them to vote in provincial and federal elections. Property taxes are incorporated into the rent of tenants, and apartment tenants typically pay more in property taxes than the cost to provide services due to the property tax system penalizing efficient land use (due to being based on the value of land and building rather than land alone and apartment property tax rate typically being higher than the residential rate).

Solo_poke

You are so full of crap… By the way, the “landlord” pays his taxes with the money he received from the “tenant”, enough said. Keep posting lies and senile bs…

deh3

The increasing average electoral quotient and disparity in representation makes the elected representatives decreasingly representative of their constituents. Danny Handelman

Suzi

Thank you Elizabeth May and Andrew Weaver for doing your job.

Geoffrey Pounder

Such is life in a petro-state. Thanks, Steve.

The Federal and AB Govts have spent millions of tax dollars on oilsands advertising and lobbying while gutting environmental laws, monitoring, and science. Enforcement of regulations is a joke.

You just have to listen to Premier Redford’s blather in defence of the oil industry. Our Govts are nothing more than the front office of Big Oil. The oil industry dictated recent revisions to environmental laws.

Of course, the Northern Gateway review is nothing more than “a mere formality”. That’s why they complain about delays in the “approval process”. It’s ridiculous. Pipeline proposals are hardly ever turned down.

As for dilbit: The lighter fractions (including diluent) volatilize, and the heavier fractions sink and mix with sediment, where degradation occurs slowly, if at all. End result: long-term contamination.

The oil industry doesn’t just contaminate our water; it also contaminates our politics.

happylada

Then be a good soldier are refuse to use anything made of oil – no medicines, no eyeglasses, no computers etc . If you don’t you are both a liar and a hypocrite. Not to mention irrational!

By your standards, the few illiterates who oppose this on some supposed moral high ground, have the right to refuse the rest of the thinking (and working) folk who are in favor of this, OUR right to work and benefit from OUR oil industry. You probably have NO idea what you are talking about – some of us have actually worked in the oil industry and know a thing or two.

You actually prefer we bring in all our oil from offshore? then what’s the difference IF we export it as well?

Geoffrey Pounder

Multi-billion dollar oil companies can well afford to do their own PR, advertising, lobbying, and scientific research. Why should taxpayers foot the bill? Switch the topic to renewables, and suddenly the libertarians are up in arms about subsidies to “Big Green”.

Our use of oil products is not carte blanche for the oil industry to do whatever it likes regardless of consequences. Why should consumers who use oil stop demanding responsible behavior from resource companies?

Why should they stop calling for enforcement of regulations and real penalties for resource companies who break environmental laws?

Why should they sanction projects from irresponsible pipeline companies that threaten other priceless natural resources, like clean water, fisheries, and wilderness?

Why should they stop calling for a transition to less harmful energy sources?

Why should they cease their demand for sustainable development?

There is nothing hypocritical about supporting less polluting energy systems, advances in technology, and a way of life that does not imperil our future.

You claim a right to benefit from the oil industry. At any cost? Even if it imperils your grandchildren’s future? Even if it means that entire species disappear?

A century ago, the buggy-whip industry resisted progress, too. Look where it got them.

happylada

I think Enbridge has met all your criteria. Now then, don’t we both feel better? My grandchildren will suffer no more under this proposal than using imported oil that enriches terrorists.

And your logic is seriously flawed. IF the weather and environmental reports the government funded were done by Enbridge, you would squeal like a stuck pig about how biased and one sided they were. When the government does it, you say the taxpayer shouldn’t have to pay for it.

I have a great deal of trouble reasoning with greenies – they are very short and economic reality and facts and very long on emotion.

You still seem to be enamored by ” less polluting energy systems, advances in technology, and a way of life that does not imperil our future.” Name ONE that is reliable besides nuclear, which some greenies have come to accept. In the meantime, our economy requires oil. That is the practical fact.

“Why should they sanction projects from irresponsible pipeline companies that threaten other priceless natural resources, like clean water, fisheries, and wilderness?” have you read ANYTHING about this proposal? You ignorance about it is abysmal. I would suggest that it may run 100 years with no incidents. i have as much evidence for that as you do for your doom and gloom.

“Why should they cease their demand for sustainable development?” When did this happen? Please cite a accurate source.

And just how does a buggy whip relate to a modern and trouble free pipeline. Do you have ANY idea how many miles of pipeline there is already in Canada? Do you know how many miles oil travels in this country with absolutely NO environmental damage? And that is mostly 40 year old technology, single walled pipes. Perhaps 10% of the protection Enbridge offers.

No way, though, that evidence or logic will persuade you. Better we have windmills that make horrendous noise, kill anything that flies near them and only work a few hours a day. But that’s the greenie mindset!

Geoffrey Pounder

Do you really believe what you wrote? Enbridge? The same company that the Chair of the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board compared to the Keystone Kops after its 2010 spill in Michigan. By the way, the cleanup is still not complete. Enbridge? The company that repeatedly restarted the pipeline despite numerous alarms? Enbridge? The company that took 17 hours to finally shut off its leaky pipeline? Enbridge has a long history of oil spills and regulatory violations.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enbridge#Spills_and_violations

Short on economic reality? Have you ever stopped to calculate the true costs of oilsands development? Of burning fossil fuels? What is the price of clean water, clean air, wilderness, and wildlife? Priceless. Irreplaceable. Resource companies privatize the profits and externalize most of the health and environmental costs.

A modern and trouble free pipeline? Your “modern and trouble free pipelines” also leak. Many recent spills are due not to technology, but to negligence and human error. Enbridge. Michigan. 2010.

“Do you know how many miles oil travels in this country with absolutely NO environmental damage?” No, tell me. Since 2006, pipeline ruptures number in the thousands and have spilled the equivalent of at least almost 28 million L of oil. That’s just in AB. In 2010, AB pipelines carrying either oil or some combination of oil, gas or distillates failed on average every 1.4 days and spilled 3.4 million L of oil. Some of the biggest spills have occurred in the last couple of years. Haven’t you been following the news?

“And that is mostly 40 year old technology, single walled pipes.” Why are pipeline companies allowed to operate unsafe, out-of-date, leaky pipelines?

“Better we have windmills that make horrendous noise, kill anything that flies near them and only work a few hours a day.”

Exaggerate much? Windmills do not “kill anything that flies near them”. Any idea how many creatures and species are doomed by fossil fuel pollution, climate change, and ocean acidification? Any idea how many birds are killed by oilsands development? Any idea how much bird habitat is destroyed by oilsands development? Oilsands development will lead to the extirpation of caribou in AB within decades. Wolves are being shot and poisoned with the full compliance of industry. Bears, too. Any creature that stumbles into or lands on the toxic tailings ponds is at risk. It turns out that the bird deterrent systems don’t work. But they do burst birds eardrums, and make the surrounding wilderness unlivable. Let’s not mention the fish with lesions and tumors. Or the communities subject to oilsands pollution downwind and downstream. ‘Our house became poisonous to us’http://www.canada.com/story.html?id=9b3e4433-4036-44ae-8882-29b5d20bbb75

Advances in renewables will never come unless we invest in them. By investing in fossil-fuel infrastructure, we lock ourselves into a fossil-fuel future.

Geoffrey Pounder

Re: Wind turbines. Wind turbines kill bats and birds, I grant you. Though far fewer than windows, power lines, cats, cars, oilsands development, oil spills etc. Let me name a few disasters for you: Lac-Mégantic. BP Gulf Spill. Primrose Lake. San Bruno pipeline explosion. Exxon Valdez. Countless coal mine disasters in China. Are there any events even remotely comparable due to wind turbines? How many people have died from wind turbine operations or accidents? Try zero. If you want to read about the bright future for renewables, check out greenenergyfutures.ca.

Noah_Scape

Who ARE you? Wow, I cannot believe that anyone writing such things would take themselves seriously, but it isn’t funny or provocative either. You have no facts to back up anything you say – what criteria has Enbridge satisfied? Safety in Shut off valves? – thats a farce, a pipeline with this much pressure would take 2 hours to shut down or it breaks open upstream…. two hours at this rate would mean a huge spill – ITS A FARCE.

So, really, tell us, are you a 1950′s tape recorder? Huh? – is that inside joke? whats that mean? I will explain if you tell me 5 critieria Enbridge satisfied.

Solo_poke

False choice…

happylada

Do you think at all before you post?

Robert Creese

It reminds me of the Bush administration muzzling science and behaving like a agency on Madison Ave.

Amaresh

Thank you Elizabeth and Andrew for being the lone voices speaking out in this sad, sad petro-government

Gordon Ellis

thanks again and again for all your hard work.

Clarence

Bastards!!

Joseph E Fasciani

I’m sending this to my friend Joseph Roberts, founder and still publisher of COMMON GROUND magazine, 100,000 monthly circulation, as he’s a huge supporter of all environmental matters.

Reece dolezsar

Ahhhhhhh!!!! I just want them to stop so bad! Thanks so much Elizabeth May and Green Party, your hard work is much appreciated. Stephen Harper and his people should be taken out of government immediately!

Santa999

If you can find the way to do it, I’ll be right by your side in a blink of an eye Reece.

happylada

There are so few of you who think that way that I think the rest of thinking Canadians can sleep soundly at night! Funny how fanatical an ingrown and misinformed group of miscreants can become, and how they believe they are the only ones whose opinions actually count! Castro would be so proud!

Solo_poke

Senile old imbeciles criticizing others is the beginning of a new comedy tv show.

Derek Stephen McPhail

Kudos to Elizabeth May for getting in Stephen Harper’s face about his misleading parliament, once again, about the extent of his support of the transport of “dilbit”; and, the diversion of funding from proper scientific study on the subject to activities based on the assumption that it’s a done deal.

He obviously knows something we don’t.

The un-checked development of the Athabasca Tar Sands horror show, let alone the transport of the toxic unrefined sludge through pipelines and oil tankers is all based on a big lie; and, the short-term profit for a few corporations is putting us all into an ecological world of hurt.

Truth Seeker

I beleive he knows that Canada was sold out BEFORE the sham FTA & NAFTA were signed (see “Shelley Ann Clarke/NAFTA” & the George Kralik interview on Hidden From History) The complete & original (200 p.) FTA is apparently buried in canisters outside Ottawa for 30 years, not to be viewed by Canadians – for ‘security reasons’ – until it’s too late & nothing can be done about it. That date would be probably 1 Jan. 2018. That is likely why he’s ramming all these offensive ‘omnibus bills’ through in such a hurry.

happylada

I can tell that you have actually been in the oil sands – NOT! You are just spouting mindlessly the rhetoric taught by your leftist betters.

Just what is a big lie? I know you have to speak in generalities lacking any specific knowledge, but please provide a couple of examples. We know you are very clever and quite honest, but your opinion does NOT equate to evidence.

That short term profit for a few corporations is ACTUALLY pension plans for many Canadian Unions, teacher funds and private pensions, the source of immeasurable tax revenue to many governments providing schools, hospitals and roads, (even for those who oppose them) and a huge source of employment for Canadians from coast to coast and will be for several centuries. Its truly amazing how astonishingly ignorant greenies and anti-capitalists can be about where these profits go.

Toxic? heck, its a natural organic product. Squished, aged dinosaurs! The sort of thing I thought the greenies were in love with!

Get an education – the Athabaska river was shimmering with oil when the first white man saw it. That doesn’t happen anymore. It produces the most environmentally friendly, most democratic, oil anywhere in the world. Guess you’d prefer we all freeze in the dark without our technology? Buy it from the Muslim terrorists? Hypocrite!

Derek Stephen McPhail

your ignorance is only exceeded by your arrogance; astounding!

Solo_poke

Look up “Gish Gallop”. That is what you are doing.

jadams

Thank you, Elizabeth, for your continued diligence in holding the federal government to task and revealing its hypocrisies.

Susan

Hopefully this can be stalled long enough for a new government come 2015

Truth Seeker

I believe it will be too late…his vow to ‘change Canada forever,so that we won’t know it’ before his term ends is happening.

B A Irwin

Is it a criminal offence for the prime minister to mislead the Canadian public?

Truth Seeker

isn’t it a ‘given’ that politicians promise anything to get elected, then change their tune after they’re in (“OOPS! we didn’t know how bad it is” situation). This PM promised ” transparency & accountability”. Have we seen any of that? And yet he gets elected again.

happylada

I guess you don’t like democracy. True leftists!

Solo_poke

Fascists and their pavlonian training revealed again.

deh3

The prime minister echoed Richard Nixon when he said when the prime minister does it, it is not illegal (in response to a question of violating the law by using an ATV in a protected zone in the Yukon).

happylada

Is it a Criminal Offense for the leader of an opposition party to mislead Canadians?

pmagn

You guys are just great value for votes. Keep it going….

Theresa K.

Thanks for informing the public. This makes my blood boil!!!!

Elliebean4

Thank you Elizabeth May for making us aware of what is happening in our country, that is currently being run by criminals.

Blaine

Boy, talk about the government being owned by big business! Why are we paying for something the oil companies can easily afford to pay for themselves? Exxon’s profit from 2011 was 41.1 billion dollars, maybe they could help out.

Garfield

They already have. They paid the PMs University costs. I’m sure he declared that when he first ran for Reform didn’t he? You think Duffy is the whole Iceberg?

Donna

Thanks Elizabeth – This is absolutely not acceptable to be paying out a 100 million dollars of our tax money for research that the Oil companies should be paying for. Some of that money could and should be put aside to increase the pensions for the elderly – of which I am one. I really take offence to this move by PM Harper. Your work and dedication is much appreciated.

ATadLate

Rally your troops then, Donna! Be sure to get out and vote, and get all your friends, family and neighbours to vote against Harper. He’s gotta go at the next election. Heave Steve!

Nick Gurnick

Harper believes in the “rule of law”. That means as long as it’s in his best interest it’s law, no matter how far off base it really is from the law.

ronwilton

Interesting that CBC has pulled this story from their webpages.

Anyone know why????????

Jeffery Bucove

Your voices from the floor during the time of a Harper majority are a lifeline to Canada’s future. Today they are the lonely voice of the people whispering out of the darkness of a criminally elected PMO driven dictatorial Canadian Federal government which has this nation in economic and geopolitical free fall.

Andrew

100 million + of corporate welfare from the “free enterprise” Conservative Party.

the crow

If this behavior continues with the Harper Cons…perhaps it’s time for a “Tax Revolt”…spending my money for this!!!

Mark vanAkker

Than you two so much for your hard work in representing what is actually happening in Ottawa. I am constantly amazed at your efforts to truly represent (and not spin) the facts – the research you and your teams do is incredible. I just wish the press were listening too.

John

Thanks. Good sleuthing. Once again a process offense as well as an economic one.

A. Kirk

Thank you so much for acting in the interest of not only Green Party members’ interests, but all Canadians. Harper’s government is constantly making a mockery of our Democratic process and I can hardly wait until he’s gone! You’re fulfilling the position of the unofficial opposition perfectly and I’m so grateful for your inquiring mind and your dedication.

A. Kirk

I would love to see a landslide win for the Greens in 2014!

Iso

Wouldn’t we all!? But this is wishful thinking and could split the anti Conservative vote again. Is there not some way the Greens and the Libs and/or the NDPs could cooperate?

deh3

It is speculation that there would be sufficient votes cast for the second-place candidate to defeat the Conservative candidate in the absence of the third- or fourth-place candidate. It is more a problem of first-past-the-post voting (which continues due to the underrepresentation of the metropolitan regions most supportive of proportional representation based on certain referenda) and voter turnout. Danny Handelman

NJT

Here! Here! How do we make this a reality?

Richard Weatherill

It would be great – but did you see what happened with one of the most corrupt governments in BC’s history in the last provincial election? They INCREASED their majority! Not a good sign of rationality among voters……

Ken Bell

Sounds like a very effective merger between Government and Corporations. A kind of “Corporitism” one might say. Funny, my grandpa told me we won WWII, defeated the fascists, brought freedom and all that stuff. Well he’s dead now and so is his dream. Can we defeat fascism today with whats left of democracy, or maybe communications technology, or something else, like a replacement fuel? An energy hungry dragon is being courted. Once it tastes the black blood of our lands, who will stand on guard?

Truth Seeker

Haven’t you heard? “Goldman Sachs The Bank That Rules The World” there’s lots describing it on the net, but a really succinct description in “Goldman Sachs Rules The World; Bank of England Next” //axisoflogic.com/artman/publish/Article_65013.shtml” (& the influence that G-S star graduate, Dr. Mark Carney has in that organization)

GH Smith

I agree 100% with the emphatic “NO” to Enbridges pipeline and supertankers on British Columbia’s coast. This Harper’s main agenda and he is going to try and ram rod it through before the next election. They will be building a bronze statue of him in Alberta.

Pissed-Off

And, if we do, it’ll be a pleasure to tar & feather the monstrosity.

Garfield

Why would they build a bronze statue in Alberta? He’s from Toronto, and his Dad worked for Exxon on St. Clair Avenue. His University would’ve been paid for by them. He went out west on a summer job, met Reform, and started ‘the west wants in’…. Fool some of the people some of the time. He’s got an Indexed pension for life. Going to buy his book? Why?

Truth Seeker

“the truth will out” (re: his background) – Shakespeare “Merchant of Venice, scene II, II” … good to see where his bias comes from.

happylada

He also happens to be an economist – something the greenies have NO clue about. He is recognized around the world as a stable and efficient head of state. You should be proud to live in a country where you have a job, largely because of his policies. Jt would have had us worse off then Greece.

Garfield

I had a job long before he was running for office–why I know where his Dad worked and that he’s not from Alberta. *I have an Alberta Birth Certificate, he does not. It’s also (above) why I’d know who paid his University, as someone told me who he was related to. My Dad worked at Ogden refinery or *I’d not have been able to afford college at that time. If he had left the GST where Paul Martin had it *most of the Debt would be cleared by now. I’ll not be around next try to clear that. A Real economist knows that Deficit financing has limits. /

Port Stanley Steve

Thank you for keeping an eye on the Harpo gang. Is there nothing the Tories will not do with our money to keep their friends happy?

frothquaffer

What will it take to bring the Harpy regime down?

Garfield

Have the PC party pick someone not in Reform? Expose him as being from Toronto and not Alberta like he pretends? Appoint him to UN as delegate to Syria?

bob watson

Very high voter turn out.

GH Smith

We are selling off all our raw resources as fast as they can pump it or rip it out of the ground. We haven’t learned anything from the demise of the fishing and forest industries. We have become a country where everything is for sale to foreign investors. Manufacturing and jobs have disappeared to China. Nearly everything we own is made in Chine. We are not citizens anymore we are consumers. The landfills are full of disposable junk. The rivers and oceans are polluted and food is getting scarcer. The wealthy are getting richer and only care about their personal portfolios. The almighty dollar is all that’s important. It doesn’t matter to them what’s left for future generations. When the oil is gone the people of Alberta can thank themselves and remember Harper while they tend their goats in the middle of a dessert.

Garfield

Why would they remember Harper. He’s from Toronto. He only went to Alberta for a summer job at Refinery in Edmonton, discovered Reform and Born again Christians, and came ‘back’ to Ontario as The West Wants In… He’s only Anti-Environment since Exxon paid for his University, since Dad worked at St. Clair HQ.. *They didn’t ask him to do that. He thought it up all on his little own… I was told he was only waiting for ‘the second coming’ (really !!) What Voters have to do is put Democracy back together for our Kids. Before ‘we don’t recognize what’s left…’ Garf.

Truth Seeker

do you actually visualize tending your goats in the dining-room while eating your dessert? that would be something to see! Seriously, for many years there have been weather-modifying installations in many places around the world – HAARP – High Altitude Auroral Research Project – based on the visionary research of the brilliant Nikola Tesla. On weather-modification he stated in 1917 “if I do not live to carry it out, somebody else will”. Someone described it as a “weapon of war”. And ‘geoengineeringwatch’ speculates, with actual radar weather videos, that it was behind the Alberta flooding,… who knows if it were behind all the terrible California & other states’ wild fires, perhaps already leading to desertification. h-m-m-m-m-m! “TESLA – Master of Lightning”, Maragret Cheney & Robert Uth, Tech. Editor Jim Glenn, MetroBooks, 1999.

C’idawai Point

“Given the evidence available today the BC Government should implement an immediate moratorium on heavy oil tankers in BC coastal waters.” Why only heavy oil tankers? Is the Green Party in favour of the hundreds of LNG tankers per year proposed for the central/north coasts? I’ve read Dr. Weaver’s opinion pieces against LNG shipping citing economic concerns. Why not include all tankers in the ban you propose? Although the Haisla First Nation have agreements, most of the rest of us up here on the coast oppose both LNG or oil tanker traffic because a) chance of a spill with LNG is still high and the consequences are still awful, b) increased shipping traffic will be detrimental to whales and other marine mammals, c) they who gets the profits vs. we who bear the risk, d) fracking sucks.

Truth Seeker

Yes, even the eminent professor Dr. Anthony Ingraffea who is a real expert & pioneer on ‘fracking’ claims that LNG drilling is ‘not your friend’, that it will NOT be the great panacea it’s cracked-up to be, & that there will be a glut on the market & the buyers will not pay the high prices for it. Our Prov. & Fed governments will be up to their ears in debt for its infrastructure, for which they won’t be able to sustain.

Susan

Maybe this is where some of that missing 3.1 billion dollars is going.

manxy

Just another sneaky Conservative manoeuvre to promote their agenda. WHY do Canadians continue to ignore Harper’s underhanded ways? Supporting Enbridge goes against reason and environmental safety. This should really be the final nail in the Tory coffin: considering the events of 2013, including the disgusting actions of Duffy and Wallin, Harper should be impeached, the Senate should be disbanded, and the Conservatives should be booted out. Think of all the taxpayers’ money that could be redirected to environmental and social causes.

ATadLate

“Think of all the taxpayers’ money that could be redirected to environmental and social causes”.

Yes, but environmental and social causes are NO concern of Harper’s; he made that very clear soon after getting the PM job. He turns a deaf ear to those two worthy issues. Meanwhile he can’t get enough of big-business, multi-nationals and his corporate buddies. (Job hunting for Fall, 2016 perhaps?) He will do anything and everything THEY and their lobbyists ask of him. ANYTHING…..including spending or giving away taxpayers money.

The mountain of reasons NOT to trust this guy ever again continues to grow bigger and bigger. Putting Harper back in as PM at the next election will be the ruination of Canada!

Truth Seeker

jobs!jobs!jobs! — off-shore, of course

Truth Seeker

since this info has been paid by us, citizens, & Elizabeth May has dug out the details, can we make this ‘lemon’ into ‘lemonade’ by SHOUTING its PROOF that the company has been negligent, that the science is very inadequate about dilbit & coastal weather conditions, that the industry is not at all concerned about irreversable damage to the land & ocean environment, etc. AND has been this sneaky in its obvious agenda for ramming it through?? It is totally unacceptable to even discuss “clean up” since we’re told that ExxonValdes is still not cleaned up after 20 years.. and 9% was considered ‘clean up success’ !!! (what about the other 91%??) … as I am convinced you have to be aware of the ‘Devil in the Details’ to make an informed opinion.

Bob L

Thank you Elizabeth May for continuing to expose this government dirty tricks. However, I must say I am not at all surprised – what else would one expect from this petropolitical dictator!

Roger Beebe

Money well spent, we need the exports and jobs. Thanks for the information.

protect life, prosecute those that seek to destroy our shared home and our fellow beings life has value beyond measure Peace and Love *********** WALL OF SHAME﻿ ************ ┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬┴┬

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http://www.smallbones.ca Smallbones/Jane

“misled the House,” of course, means he outright LIED! (What a surprise!)

Michael Fish

Thanks very much for your work. The whole project is unbelievable coming from a supposedly civilized people. Keep up your good work. Michael Fish Longueuil

Harper Is Horrible

HARPER IS HORRIBLE HARPER IS HORRIBLE HARPER IS HORRIBLE HARPER IS HORRIBLE HARPER IS HORRIBLE DESTROYER OF ENVIRONMENT DESTROYER OF ENVIRONMENT DESTROYER OF ENVIRONMENT DESTROYER OF ENVIRONMENT DESTROYER OF ENVIRONMENT DESTROYER OF DEMOCRACY DESTROYER OF DEMOCRACY DESTROYER OF DEMOCRACY DESTROYER OF DEMOCRACY DESTROYER OF DEMOCRACY

John Collier

Great work, it’s a pity that Harper has to continue to lie to the Canadian people.

Gina Bisaillon

I saw that on the news, and also the government guy saying that Elizabeth “should do her homework”, when everyone knows she is the ONLY party leader who ALWAYS does her homework on such matters.

Meanwhile, here in New Brunswick, at the very same time as TransCanada Pipeline are holding open houses across the provinces, the Alward government is spending millions of our tax dollars on some sneaky propaganda TV ads whose purpose is obviously (to those of us who are fully awake!) to ensure that the Energy East pipeline will not get too many objections from the residents.

John Collier

diluted bitumen is heaver than water and will sink to the bottom of whatever waterway the spill takes place in. This being said I don’t understand how any spill can ever be cleaned up. The spilsl will contaminate forever.

deh3

Nature does have a natural buffering capacity.

Peter Anson

Ah, the conservative agenda: socialize the costs and privatize the profits!

Christopher Victor

Corporate welfare from a government deeply integrated with US policy for globalism. I am doing what I can in my community. I support the Greens. Watch for more maneuvering and posturing by a government bent to sell us out. Watch for all the same moves the US makes in stripping citizen rights, privacy, social systems, and international agreements made without consent. Bankers and corps using Canada for their own gain. Sorry for the poor English.

Truth Seeker

right on C V! & your English isn’t poor. … but the ‘sell out’ happened before the sham FTA & NAFTA so-called ‘negotiations’ (Shelley Ann Clark/NAFTA, etc) … when she was cleaning out her boss’ files afterward, she came across a 2 foolscap pages “Implementation Schedule”, which of course she couldn’t copy – her life was already in danger because she ‘knew too much’ (her home was turned upside-down looking for ‘evidence’ of that secret knowledge, of course not there. A long, sad saga. Harper is merely Implementing, as seamlessly & quickly as possible, that Schedule before the 30 years are up when the Canadian public will be able to actually see the complete & original FTA – with all the give-aways that were denied! But by then it will be too late!!! ,

Margaret Singleton

Thank you Elizabeth and Andrew for uncovering and making public yet another example of Harper’s autocratic ways. I fear for our environment and am so angry at the decision making of the Gov’t and without debate apparently, What happened to democracy in Canada?

deh3

The increasing average population of electoral district combined with first-past-the-post voting results in decreasing democracy.

Yes, but…would we really prefer to have the oil industry do this research? What chance would there be that their conclusions be honest ones?

bob watson

True, was only reporting the direction of the discussion as it evolved through the day as i heard it in my case on the call in radio shows. As one may say one should stay aware of the full breadth of the state of the matter before us so when decisions are taken assumptions don’t come back to bite, as one may say.

bob watson

As i heard this yesterday, and tried to follow, was’nt much nationally. In BC part of the discussion went to, if this research is being done a preferance is being expressed for the relevant gov’t department doing this work over the the ‘company’ producing the result. It worries me that more of the conversation is in the “OIL IS ALREADY BEING SHIPPED” mode, are we being slowley lulled into the ‘oh well what the’ going to happen any way thinking? The one thing we can do for sure is to define what material enters our juristiction, if we’re going to have this stuck to us then make that crap crude before you you send. It seems to me that now having chinese energy/oil money on the ground next door we are already in the trap. So i will repeat what i put here before, the absolute minimum should be that the bitumen in alberta be upgraded to crude in facilities on ground already lost to extraction before it leaves. If the “RESOURCE EXTRACTION” companies say they can’t afford this, then i say to thier ivestors, why would you buy into a lie on how much it really costs to sustain the required activity supporting the value communicated to you to attract your interest.

So Elizabeth what can be done to stop this one-sided so called research and put it in the hands of true independents?

Jim B.

Harper lied again? I’m shocked!

Glen

I recall Rex Murphy laughing at someone’s suggestion that we were slipping into fascism…Rex can be a bit of a weenie at times!

Noah_Scape

Another good on Elizabeth, thank you.

The oil industry subsidies are really adding up – In addition to this $100 M study, and the small harbour dredging TruthSeeker mentioned, there is also the “Major Projects Management Office” [MPMO], established in 2007 under the Harper govt..

The MPMO was created to help the extraction industries [oil and mining] to “navigate the regulatory framework” when those industries start up new projects.

Only a Harper govt. would be so bold to create an office that helps corporations avoid Federally mandated LAWS that protect the environment.

TransCanada Pipelines’ former CEO praised the MPMO – he said it helps corporations “to manage the regulatory quagmire that major projects must endure”. “Rolling back the regulatory agenda” is their agenda – the reasoning being that environmental protection regulations are not needed because there has been no environmental damage and global warming activists speak “the most egrarious hyperbole in history”.

In other words, the MPMO simply helps the oil industry GET AROUND the environmental regulations that Harper has yet to legistlate into the dust bin.

I wonder if Ms May might be able to fiind out how how much taxpayers are spending on this industry-friendly MPMO office?

when you understand the present truth that Goldman Sachs Rules The World, Goldmanization of the World that is devastating so many countries, etc.etc.etc. & that our darling Mark Carney is a ‘star G-S graduate’ who was both Paul Martin’s & S Harper’s FINANCE MINISTERS’ ADVISOR, before he was appointed B of C governor, & now B of E gov. as well as chairman of the G-S International Bank Headquarters in London, you will understand how Harper is driven by the big-business juggernaut. If populations were not so ‘distracted’, they would declare “enough”. Eliz. May is totally right that ‘truth thrives in the sunshine’ we all just have to project the gems of truth that she & her gang find & pass on to us.

John Fefchak

Lets see if I have this Right? PM Harper challenges G20 to follow Canadian example on debt reduction, but

greases Enbridge Northern Gateway to the tune of & 120 million of “Canadian taxpayers money”. Why are Canadians subsidizing this endeavour; just to pollute and devastate our water sources.?

Debt reduction…..meaningless words. Water and Environment destruction, and Canadians are financially donating

to the cause.

PJ Robertson

Good work, Ms May. This news has to go national. . . better yet viral. Stephen Harper’s continuing assault on democracy and abuse of the Canadian taxpayer must be exposed at every end and turn. . . and stopped.

KootenayCoyote

Thanks for doing the right thing yet again.

Charles

This would be wonderful news if it included a drop in the price of gas at the pump and a dramatic tightening of the standards for fuel consumption across the board (autos, homes, industry, etc.). It is clearly, once again, a hand out to a brutally profitable mega industry. When will governments begin to attach appropriate strings to their freebies for the oil tycoons?

Mavis

Is there no end to this Government’s deception? What arrogance to vote money for something not yet approved! His party’s entire animus is the Oil industry in Alberta, and if he isn’t bullying people in the west to accept his pipelines, he’s now trying to bully people in the east to accept a reversed gas pipeline, running almost at my backyard. Having read about what a great job pipeline companies do cleaning up oil spills, I dread the future. I only wish we could clone you Elizabeth to amplify the real dangers of Harper’s Government policies, throughout Canada. Get these people out.

Sue

This money could have been much better spent on developing new non-oil sources of energy.

Lise Chevrette

Steven Harper is an illusionist and hypnotist. He creates the illusion of supporting and abiding by research and science findings when in fact he is talking from both sides of his mouth and betraying scientists and researchers, even the budding ones. He is an hypnotist when he drones and drones and drones in a low soothing voice that his government is committed to creating prosperity and jobs and expecting Canadians to fall under the spell. What a disaster he is. We need more voices like Elisabeth May to shake people from under the illusions and the spells… Lets work harder to elect Greens!

john donald

stephen harper is a treasonous lying bilderberg hypocrite that would sell canadas sovereignty to any foreign or local corporations..we should arrest and charge him with domestic terrorism…politicians (most) have one agenda…their own

criordon

This spending is an egregious and duplicitous waste of our hard-earned money, and in direct contradiction to the polled interests of the vast majority of Canadian taxpayers.

What is especially nauseating in this case is that our government is funding (against our expressed wishes) an industry which collectively makes tens of billions of dollars in profit each quarter, and annually spends more than $100 million to fund campaigns to deny the serious negative consequences of global warming and to lobby for policy to promote the ongoing use of fossil fuels and to discourage the development of renewable sources of energy. Excuse me while I vomit.

ingamarie

Join an organization fighting Big Oil…….donate money, time, persuasion. We don’t quite frankly, have time for the histrionics of personal reaction. We need to act not react….become Actisits, not Reactivists.

For the future.

Neena

I am constantly gob-smacked by the Harper government’s sneaky, underhanded, self-serving agenda. I never voted for them, and I’m embarrassed as a Canadian that other people did. Thanks again, Elizabeth for keeping us in the know.

ReynoldR

I have a suggested use for some of the tar in northern Alberta. It involves feathers and an arrogant government that has no regard for democracy or for the people. For more of Harpers crimes see http://www.harperscrimes.ca/

Elaine Tremblay

We need to halt this spending NOW, What can we do?

James House

PM Harper is simply a puppet for corporations seeking to exploit Canadian resources. Our government has been subverted, Harper and others before him have twisted and undermined our laws in order to pave the way for a select few to benefit. This kind of cronyism is looked on as business as usual by corporations and they have the legal legs to fight anyone who opposes them. Even if there were one of us with the money and the resolve to challenge the illegality of what our PM is doing in regards to this oil issue, among many others, with our present system it would take years to bring him to justice and by then it would already be too late.

I believe we can change things, not by marching in the streets but by withdrawing from submitting or paying taxes. Our vote means nothing, as this system has clearly shown. A man like Harper, without a majority, is presently in power and he’s slashing and burning everything in his way to ensure his corporate masters get what they want, while we pay for it. I am not going to help pay for it.

deh3

In the context of voting, adopting a defeatist attitude will ensure a defeatist result. Reducing the electoral quotient to what it was in 1867 (approximately 19,500), enlarging the proportion of the population who are enfranchised and implementing proportional representation will collectively result in substantive change to the electoral system.

James House

Change is necessary to recreate a democracy here in Canada, no question. Problem is, those we vote in, once elected, follow their own path, kind of like Harper, who campaigned on the premise of transparency and honesty (…don’t they all). We have no failsafe or “recall” button and we have no way of knowing what the next PM will do either, regardless of their campaign promises to reform our electoral system. In my view, the only way to stop the madness is to stop funding it.

deh3

Few people pay sufficient attention to the political decision-making, and the voter turnout tends to skew toward those who are relatively old and wealthy. So, it is not surprising that politicians tend to be status quo once in power. British Columbia has voter and legislative recall legislation in place for provincial decisions.

James House

I was not aware that BC had a recall mechanism for their legislative, that is amazing. Does it get used often ? I’ve never even heard of it.

Unfortunately we do not have such recall capabilities for federally elected MPs and most importantly the PM.

I agree with your comment / observation that people tend to ignore politics ( generally speaking it’s like trying to decipher Sand Skrit with grade 9 French class skills ). If you’re not a lawyer, very little of what is written and even less of what is said makes any sense… and people get discouraged and don’t vote, or they vote the status quo as you say, probably because it follows doing something that seems familiar when we are fearful or uncertain.

I equate Harper’s actions with a step parent who’s moved in to our home and starting “renovating”. In reality he’s tearing the family home apart, piece by piece. If we are like children living in the house we can clearly see the sunlight coming through the now open rafters where he’s removed the roof “so we can all breathe fresh air” but when the storm clouds roll in only a select few will be sheltered. As kids, we are powerless to stop this adult. And if I can get a little more literate here without sounding preachy; Harper and mom aren’t “in love” any more, if they ever were. He kind of slipped in one night while she was drinking and we were sleeping and took over the place. Now even mom wants him out but due to the letter of the law, he has every right to stay and to continue to dismantle the house, so long as he calls it renovating.

deh3

To my knowledge, the (ultimately successful) HST referendum has been the only referendum in response to the voter and legislative recall legislation. Based on my knowledge, Harper isn’t the only prime minister who has sought to centralize power.

MC Glass

Where would we be n this tipping point issue without Elizabeth May and Andrew Weaver… great work *

ingamarie

WEll actually, a lot of people have been fighting these pipelines, government subsidies to Big Oil and unconventional oil development for some time. Its great what Green spokespeople are doing to add to the information………but really……….check out all the data on the keystone XL…the most recent being a Sierra Club report contradicting the American State Departments study which claimed the Keystone would not significantly raise CO2…by quoting our own Joe Oliver….cited in a Pembina report as saying that “the keystone XL was crucial to growth in the tarsands.

Its not just governments acting as lobbyists and deep pockets for the new age of unconventional fossil fuel barons……….its all the rest of us waiting around for a few quixotic souls to save us.

I hope we all get together and wake up………but don’t assume the messenger who got your attention was the first to address the issue. You can also watch a stirring video on utube where Nathan Cullen speaks against the Gateway in his homeriding……..against the pipeline. Andrew Nikeforuk is pretty eloquent on the subject of petro states as well, and then there’s Bill McGibbon and 350.org…an organization we should all consider signing up with….since it is they and their genius at marshalling people power that have held up the Keystone to date.

Let’s just hope that all of us who are starting to ‘get it’ intend to be active on the ground. Which is where the tar gets spilled, the watersheds compromised, and the future auctioned off to the lowest bidder.

Norine

Sorry to inform Sue below: we do not live in a country that practices democracy. Our political framework is an elected dictatorship. Consider this – when is the last time Canadians were asked to vote on any issue that affected all of us – except a political election????

Kudos to Elizabeth May and everyone else involved in uncovering this latest assault on our environment using Canadian taxpayer dollars.

deh3

The political positions are so lucrative in terms of power and access to wealth that it tends to cause them to prefer the status quo, which is inconsistent with placing referenda for change to the people.

JanetHudgins

Thanks for this, Elizabeth. Something else, a lot more, to add to the list.

Alec

The Northern Gateway route? Is Harper feeling nostalgic? His big career break in whatever it is that he actually thinks he does was with the White Supremacist affiliated group: “The Northern Foundation.” I wonder why the press did not tell us about Harper’s time there before the election which has practically sunk Canada with his majority (not really) government. Among his tasks at NF were 1. Keeping Nelson Mandela in jail. 2. Breaking the worldwide boycott of apartheid South African goods. 3. Selling Israeli nukes to the White Supremacist South African state.

Good work at sleuthing this out. But why is Harper still there and not in jail awaiting trial? The number of his crimes is burdensome and alarming.

Zsaire Gable

Wow that is truly sickening. I vote we lynch the PM! Anyone with me?

Alec

I suspect that the only thing Harper laughs at is us.

Jim

Great work! Please keep it up and bring on the election!

M. Houston

100 million plus!!! We are sheep being herded by wolves who are not even bothering to don their “sheep’s clothing!” So many Canadians could have been assisted with these funds! I love our country and am “pissed” by the lies and deceit of our government ! Time to tell Mr. Harper et all we are cleaning house from his office, the Senate, and down the line, and then Do It!!! Keep the honest updated coming!

Bryan

While I don’t think the feds should undertake such a research project without public approval, but to suggest that industry based research should be done instead is insane.

To make my point crystal clear……how did the industry research go when the tobacco industry did it and told everyone smoking was safe??

This is complex issue and it is most certainly not as black & white as this article seems to be saying.

In this case I’d have to say that the Feds and the Greens are wrong

June

What we really need are suggestions on how to counter this kind of thing. It helps no-one to just be “pissed” or “pissed off”. We need to properly study democratic representation in this country so that a party cannot obtain absolute authority with just 36% of the popular vote. Canadians are great complainers. We need action to help us feel less frustrated and hopeless. If we don’t take any kind of action, Harper just sits back and smiles. He really doesn’t care about our complaints.

deh3

Reducing the electoral quotient to what it was in 1867 (approximately 19,500), enlarging the proportion of the population who are enfranchised and implementing proportional representation would result in decentralized power.

Chris Armstrong

I WAS a Conservative, but I have learned that Dictator between elections Stephen Harper is a liar: witness his pre-election promise of “transparency” = ZERO transparency. He neither believes in, nor practices democracy. And now he is going to try to ram through the disaster for BC and its citizens known as the NGP to make his Big Oil buddies/supporters/financiers happy. The only place to refine highly ABRASIVE and CORROSIVE tar sands/oil sands bitumen IS IN ALBERTA ! Then, perhaps, Big Oil can improve their BAD track record with pipelining simple OIL, in which ONE SPILL IS ONE TOO MANY !.

Megan

Thank you so much for keeping us in the loop. We support you!!!!

Ward Eagen

wow! and they saved up to four million a year by destroying our long gun registry!

disqus_uvuui5atoF

no approvals yet for pipelines or shipping facilities and this government is going ahead with this and spending our money, maybe even for nothing unless they are simply going to go ahead with the project with or without approvals. Seems to be the way this bunch operates. Party and major corporations first people and environment last.

Gordon McCann

I noticed the commercials about the northern university with training for the oil pipeline and coal mining running on TV. They seem to extol the virtues of the proposed new northern industries not yet in place. I am unclear if they are govt. of canada or a joint effort with the province of BC. There is also a bunch of similar features shown on 24 hour Global news channel. They very slick and seem to say all of the industrial plans are a done deal.

darrell

This revelation is incredible , how can the government justify spending the money on a what/if proposal ? That certainly does not seem like good money management at all . Is there a conservative party member or conservative MP willing to explain this expenditure ? Huge kudos to the green party for this information

Bryan

Wow…Green Party is removing posts….guess they don’t like it when readers don’t agree.

Listen…industry led research is suspect at best (tobacco).

The fed shouldn’t be doing this either….at least without public knowledge.

This story is not as black and white as the author makes it out to be

Greg Cameron

these so-called fiscal conservatives sure have money for some things, don’t they?

Mia

The Harper Government side-steps democracy yet again. I am deeply ashamed of their deceit and favourtism of corporations over the health of Canadians and Canadian territory.

FeelALot

Oh, gee….THIS must be what the Feds are really referring to in their recent, infuriating radio ads that I’ve been hearing in AB, about how they’re busy constructing more & better environmental laws to protect us all!

Underhanded, compulsive liars, puppeteered by the evil cabals, is what they really are. Those who continually and ignorantly vote for them need to seriously wake up, and “yesterday.”

John eh!

What a bunch of wack-a-doodles. The feds can’t win on this. If there is a spill, they will want an inquiry as to why there was a spill and why don’t we know what to do about. If there is no oil, then you may as well put our economy back into the stone age and ask for subsidies from … Cuba. The green party is the one that is talking out of both sides of its collective mouth. The day I see the green party leader walking to work with homemade clothes, no electronic devices and bad teeth, is the day I will believe the green party and it’s agenda.

deh3

Shifting the tax burden from productive activity (sales, income, buildings) to unproductive activity (pollution, financial speculation, land speculation) will reduce dependence on hydrocarbons, reducing the probability and severity of oil spills, and resulting in an insourcing of jobs (due to goods being grown and manufactured in relative proximity to where the consumers are located. Danny Handelman

belle400

Yet another example of the Harperites being a neo-mercantile, not “free enterprise” government in the service of global extractive industries and related undertakings. Let us not forget this is not the first “government funding” mapping etc undertaken at tax-payer expense for these global for-profit corporations. What do you think the mapping and geological surveys under the pretense of looking for the Franklin expedition in our Arctic was about?

Truth Seeker

probably looking for oil-geology

Brittani Russell

Thanks Elizabeth May. I’m so concerned about our future :.(

peter

Someone has to do the research, but, as you say it should be industry…but both are as suspect in their findings. Nevertheless, why would the feds hide this research other than the fact that its results will be undoubtedly controversial.

Truth Seeker

the research findings could turn out to be a great indictment!

R. Tremblay

Im grateful to the Green Party and Elizabeth May for revealing the Harper Govrnment’s hipocricy and for unveiling the truth.

R tremblay Gabriola Island

L. James

Thank you, Elizabeth May, for keeping alert to these issues that affect all Canadians. You have my admiration for a job well done that involves so many facets that you seem to have a knack for clarifying. Bless you for using your intelligence in our service.

Santa999

Thank you Elizabeth and Andrew for your great work and your continuous effort to keep Canadian Democracy alive. Thank you for exposing Harper’s dirty games that he plays to promote his “holly cow” = oil industry. British Columbians of all collors and races will stand behind you and we will say NO !!! to Enbridge, Kinder Morgan or anybody who would ever try to destroy OUR RIVERS and OUR COAST. There will be NO PIPELINE going through OUR (BC) LAND, period !!!

Sandra

Even if all the voters turn out to vote we will still have a conservative government because “all of us” are divided. What to do? What to do????!!!!!

deh3

Those who decide not to vote tend to be non-status quo and non-conservative (for example, Saanich-Gulf Islands had one of the highest voter turnout (75%) in Canada in the 2011 federal election) so motivating those who do not normally vote is the most important factor, which is also important in replacing the status quo of first-past-the-post electoral districts and oversize electoral districts. Danny Handelman

Dennis Clarke

In Stephen Harper’s 06/06/13 Question Period reply to Elizabeth May’s query, the PM uses the word “obviously” twice. A current CBC-TV Murdoch Mysteries promo features an Arthur Conan Doyle quote – “There is nothing more deceptive than an obvious fact.” If CRA could collect a Loonie for every “obviously” uttered by the PM since taking office, this tax on deception would put a big dent in the annual deficit, the national debt.

Rick Maddocks

I too am grateful for the vigilance of the Green Party of Canada. My concern is … the entire political system is broken and I wonder if the Greens can accomplish much of anything within the existing political framework.

We in Canada need a grassroots groundswell of support for the removal of the current Prime Minister by our Governor General. Then we need wholesale constitutional / political reform ….. not just another political “flavour of the day.”

Truth Seeker

the GG was proposed by the PM & has proven himself to be just another rubber-stamp in the office desk drawer. … sad for an eminent law professor & chancellor? of a university who soon after his GG appointment addressed the Law Society at its gathering in Halifax about ‘integrity & doing the right thing’ (video presented on CPAC, your Canadian Public Affairs Channel funded by all the cable channels – not gov’t funded) … I sent a hand-written letter to him about the first pro-rogue, but no response.

HereHere

Does anyone know if the national media is covering this press conference today?

Paul

How do we get these liars out of office? Why is government never charged with crimes. Are they not stealing from the tax payers?

deh3

The oversize electoral districts and first-past-the-post voting concentrates power with a small group of people, resulting in the policing and legal bureaucracies, which take orders from these people in power, being reluctant to take action. Danny Handelman

Granny

There is something to be said for the research on spills but taxpayers’ funding should be recovered as though this spending was a loan – by increasing the royalties due from the oil produced.

Where is the modelling of the seabed over which these tankers will be moving, where is the modelling of the damage to human and marine life and habitat post spills, what safeguards are being developed to counteract human stupidity/greed/substance abuse among those in charge of tankers or corporations?

The problem with the thorium reactor is that there is not an entire provincial economy depending on it, nor any current industrial powerhouse to push it – thorium reactors don’t, at the moment provide livelihoods for all those employed, voting, taxpayers in the tar sands .

Short term self interest is what motivates corporations and governments (politicians abusing their powers) and the only thing that persuades them is the results at the ballot box., or in the case of corporations, the abandonment of their products. You can’t win the war on drugs because people won’t stop using them and you can’t win the war against the oil based economy until we can find substitutes for the myriad uses of petroleum,

“Natural Resources Minister Joe Oliver said, in a statement, that his government would not make decisions before the review process confirms development would be safe for the environment. He added that the supposedly leaked material the Greens were referring to was openly announced last March as part of an effort to ensure tanker safety and world-class marine safety on Canada’s coastlines.”

I’d like to see this “announcement” of his. Bet any money that the pricetag of $100 million wasn’t mentioned at the time. Also read some of the comments on the Globe’s site. Wonder if any of those who think the “research project” is reasonable live on the waters that will be affected by an oil spill……….Or do they live nicely tucked away in environmentally dead southern Ontario?

Also, will Harper be using the scientists that he has effectively in thrall?

JoJo

Thank you for the information.

Guy B.

This is not surprising with this government and its hidden agenda. Lets keep facts straight though. The gutting of core Federal spending for pure and applied research has been going on for decades now, and not just by the current government which i agree has carried out draconian cuts during its last three mandates. They do not have any understanding of science and its short and long term benefits to society, let alone what democracy means. It’s just more politicians in bed with big business while the best interests of Canadians get tramped.

Kim Kondra

The fact that Stephen Harper is the leader of this country is the product of a manipulated system that does not honour honest representation. I don’t doubt big oil companies made this happen so they could have the devil at the helm of their tankers. These lying thieves have to be replaced by a leader that has intelligence, wisdom, and the integrity it takes to see beyond the dollar signs. Her name is Elizabeth May.

Johnny

Can we rise up and kick Harper and his affiliates out of government yet?

Thank you Elizabeth May you are awesome!

katburd

We “can” rise up anytime at all. It isn’t a question of can we. It is a question of will.

wondering

This sadly seems so typical of the harper regime… say one thing …and then use tax payer money to do the exact opposite. Ratchet ; …a tool, that works all the angles harper = way ratchet

belle400

From my cousin as well as my neighbour – both field geologists involved with the mining industry … that is their take on it. Only way that expenditure “makes sense” … given the Harperites anti-science/anti-evidence based stance on most things. y

justtoodumb

Ya so to bad the majority of canadians are too dumb to understand the real issues at play here. Even if you don’t give 2 shits about the environment you should still be pissed at the level of corruption taking place in our government.

gord

good – WORK!

Charles Beckett

What is the purpose of the quotation mark at the end of Item 2 (‘… waters’)? What is the emphasis that was added but not discernable to me in the paragraph about Stephen Harper’s words? Anyway, thanks for alerting the public to this huge spending by the Feds to directly assist the interests of Big Business. One may suspect that this multi-million give-away will mushroom bigger and be wasted at the direction of Big Business.

Andrea Bunt Percy

I recently read a Macleans article which said many oil companies now recognize they’re shooting themselves in the foot unless they proceed with business with environmental forethought. The same article stated that the Harper govt isn’t keeping up their end by tightening environmental regulations – that being a necessary step for the industry to function properly. Apparently this govt inaction is a concern to the industry.

Perhaps Enbridge genuinely didn’t see the value in investing in the research. Maybe PM Harper is that desperate to make these tankers happen that he’s taking a risk and investing on behalf of Enbridge.

bob watson

I listened while ELIZABETH desperatly tried to ‘COMMUNICATE’ the meaning and import of this co-operative expendature of several gov’t departments to Evan Soloman on CBCs the house yesterday. Understanding that challenging a position in an interview is how it should be, the challange should at a minimum reflect an understanding of what is being discussed and be relavent. She was forced to school him on the basic background that iether he or his staff should have had prepared. Surely some time beyond the actuall interview is part of what tasks are required to draw the salery there eh Mr Soloman (sorry if i spelled yer name wrong there youngster)? She has been trying to warn of the ‘LEGAL COMMITMENTS’ we may be trapped into by some of the ‘buissiness’ arrangements our elustrious gov’t keeps throwing us towards for quite some time now. HHMM HHMM why one wonders is so much time being devoted to bringing capital in from outside Canada to the ‘NATURAL RESOURCE’ sector as 1/2 Billion of dead/bored money sits in Canada with nothing to do? HHMM why why as one may say.

bob watson

RE; My las post, thats 1/2 Trillion dollars of canadian capital sitting idle as of last year not being lured into the “NATURAL RESOURCE” sector. Sorry

lrothney

Why does Harper insist on ruining our Country? Get him out of Ottawa. Thanks Elizabeth for all your hard work and information to the public.

Ross

Informative to read: this fact filled email is necessary for all to read! Tanks

ergodesk

The $100 Million should be spent on bailing out BC Hydro.

anne marie benoit

If it is illegal can Harper be charge and ask to repay money? Now we have proof what can be done? Can Harper take anything he wants out of the purse? Serious criminals at the wheel. Over and over again corruptions, destruction of our environmemt and lies with oil businesses.

Kimberly

This is shameful ! Keep the tankers out and if research is needed then let Enbridge pay…oh pardon and Harper can throw in his own $ as he seems to be in partnership.

Noah_Scape

What a stir on the CBC website about P.M. Harper’s upcoming parade into B.C. to warn us that he is using new Federal Laws to push the Gateway Pipeline through. It also “allows” him to over-ride the Indian Act wherever bands resist giving permission to Enbridge – a purely dictatorial style.

So, I posted Ms. May’s revealing article above – there was no mention of any of these issues by the CBC reporters. Over 2000 comments in one day on that article.

More money to not only corporate welfare bums but this money is going to bums that are also ruthless, greedy killer corporations. May Jesus save us from this evil Harper government of toadies to the worst of the vile corporations of earth.

Izzy

Thank you, Elizabeth May! Red flags should go up as soon as the words, “Obviously” and “Clearly” pass the lips of our Prime Minister.

Hoopsopinion

The only purpose of the green party is to split the vote so that the conservatives continue winning elections. If you really want the change you will either get proportional representation or you join one of the other main parties. The rest is just grandstanding.

hamgold

It is the case, I notice, that many blogs or comment pages become receptacles for name calling . down putting.or various other unacceptable bits of behavior..Some use language that is quite close to the gutter some comments are quite close to the gutter. Happily most comments are of high caliber . My hope would be that those that comment keep their standards high, keeping in mind the excellent people the foster the page lend them some respect.